Info on 18TN (revised June 1998)
CURRENT STATUS: As mentioned in my 18GA section, Chris Lawson began
to help me in playtesting early versions of 18TN and agreed to help
me develop it. Somewhere along the line, Chris decided that the design
needed major revisions. Although I didn't necessarily agree with all of his
ideas (designers tend to be protective of their "babies", especially their
first one), I did want to see the design published in some form. This led
to Chris making a number of major changes, one of which was his decision to
nename the game 1851. By late 1997 Chris was doing final playtesting and
scheduled the game for publication in 1998 (it was published around March
1998 and is beautiful). Chris and I are listed as co-designers but there
are many changes between my original 18TN design and 1851. As of today
(June 1998), I have no immediate plans to publish 18TN despite the positive
feedback I have received when I have taken it to conventions to show off. I
think there would be considerable confusion between 18TN and 1851 since the
maps are similar and the same railroad corporations are used in each game.
I don't want to do anything to hurt sales of 1851. What I am inclined to do
instead is continue working along the path of a series of modular games
such as 18GA and 18AL which may be followed by a kit that would combine
both games into a larger game using a revised map, possibly some new
components and new rules. Such a new map may include parts of my 18TN map
and some of the railroads. Therefore, the following sections pertain to my
earlier version of 18TN and are mainly of historical interest.
INTRO: 18TN is a game based on the 18xx system and is primarily set in the
State of Tennessee.
Let's face it, 18xx games are just too long. While I enjoy epic length
games, the trend in 18xx games seems to be "bigger is better". I was at a
gaming convention in October 1996 and sat down to play 1870 with four other
players. Our game lasted 7 3/4 hours! I decided that there might be a place
for shorter games that still capture the flavor of larger 18xx games. I
also wanted something that would be more accessible to newer gamers as well
as "sometimes gamers" like spouses, etc.
I started working on 18TN in 1995 but didn't really have a good way to
produce any kind of decent prototype. In 1997 I got a color inkjet printer
and picked up Microsoft Publisher for Windows 95. With the help of David
Reed and Chris Lawson, I was able to develop a decent looking 18TN
prototype. The following is a little information about the original game.
Details: 18TN has six railroad corporations including the L&N, the first
major railroad to build major lines into Tennessee in 1850. The other
railroads include the GM&O, the Southern Railway, the Illinois Central, the
Tennessee Central and the Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis (the Dixie
Line). The map extends from roughly Little Rock in the West to Bristol
TN/VA in the east. The north/south boundaries are Cinncinnati to Atlanta
although a number of these cities are red off board areas. Admittedly,
there is a fair amount of Kentucky represented but the primary play area is
in Tennessee. There is yellow track printed on the map from Louisville to
Bowling Green to simulate the early track building and to enhance the L&N's
dominance in Middle Tennessee.
The privates are represented by actual ghost railroads around the state.
They were situated to add strategical value where possible. In 18TN all
privates have the same basic ability. That is that any owning corporation
may lay an extra tile in the private company's hex in addition to its
regular tile laying phase (like the C&SL in 1830). This simplification as
well as a smaller stock chart were done to keep the game moving.
Each railroad corporation is allowed two yellow track lays on its first
turn of operation only if it wishes. I found this necessary on a map of
this scale. There are special yellow tiles for Nashville and Chattanooga.
The other special features include an abstract effect caused by the
American Civil War. Basically, all railroads lose the income from one of
its trains for one turn when the Civil War is triggered (the purchase of
the third three train). Depending on when the railroads start, some may not
even be effected by this. The effects of the Civil War are just slightly
more serious in Atlanta in 18GA . These rules are designed to give
each game in this series a local flavor but hopefully won't bog the players
down with learning numerous new rules or concepts.
Here is a screen shot from my current prototype. This shows the Nashville
area.
[Image]
Around mid 1996 I think, I received a great looking gif file of the whole
board courtesy of David Reed. Here it is:
[Image]
Support:
Actually since this game is not published, there is really nothing to
support yet. The rules are still evolving to some degree and I will post
clarifications/changes in this area.
This is the latest Rules document in .txt format
This is the same document in a MS Word 6.0 format
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can the game end in a stock round by some player selling all of his
holdings and exhausting the bank?
A: No, there is a specific rule against it. If the bank runs out of money
during a stock round, the game will continue until the end of the next
operating round. In other words, all operating companies will get one more
operation. If necessary, each player will loan $500 to the bank so it can
pay out dividends during the last operating round.
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Q: What happens if the Civil War strikes a railroad that lost its train(s)
between the time the civil war was triggered and the time it is effected
(its next turn to operate)?
A: It will move to the left because it has no trains at the time of its
income phase as in other 18xx games. If a railroad had a single train (a
three for example), when it is effected by the civil war, it is flipped
over to indicate that it earns no income for the railroad. However, the
stock still moves forward because it is presumed to have earned income, it
just used it to repair track, etc. To force a railroad in this situation to
back up would just be too severe.
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Q: What is the effect of the Civil War on a railroad that just floated
between the time the civil war was triggered (purchase of the first three
train) and its first opportunity to operate?
A: Since a new railroad always backs up on the stock chart for not paying
dividends anyway, there is no additional effect for the civil war. During
the turn the civil war effects it, it may lay track, place tokens, purchase
trains, etc., and operates normally after that.
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Watch this area for additional FAQs